Ref. 30732-6POLICE say that it was a miracle nobody was killed in an accident involving two lorries and a car on the M4.

Motorists faced miles of tailbacks after the crash, which happened between Junction 15 and the Membury Services around 11.15am yesterday.

A seven-tonne lorry was travelling on the westbound carriageway, towards Swindon, when it was involved in a collision with a Ford Fiesta.

Both vehicles careered through the central reservation and the lorry was in collision with a 44-tonne articulated lorry travelling on the eastbound carriageway towards London.

Four people were taken to the Great Western Hospital and were treated for minor injuries.

The driver of the Fiesta, a 20-year-old woman from Oxford, suffered whiplash and her passenger, an 18-year-old man from Germany, was treated for shock.

The drivers of the lorries, an Irish man aged 59 and a 47-year-old man from Bridgwater, suffered minor facial injuries.

Insp David McMullin said the accident could have been much worse.

"It was a miracle," he said. "Incidents like these usually end in tragedy.

"It was very fortunate that no-one was seriously injured but there was an impact in terms of blocking the motorway."

All three lanes were blocked but the fast lane was re-opened after 15 minutes to allow traffic to flow.

Police took around three hours to remove the vehicles, investigate the accident and clear debris.

Tailbacks stretched for four miles at one stage.

"The tailbacks cleared within ten minutes of the motorway being re-opened," Insp McMullin added.

"Our first priority was to make sure anyone injured should be taken to hospital and treated.

"Then it was to protect the people working to clear the road at the scene both our own police officers and officers from the council. And obviously we want to make sure people stuck in traffic get moving as quickly as possible."

Bhavani Vadde